Shopping becomes lesson

For sisters Carly, 12, and Elena Wolf, 10, going back to school means going back-to-school shopping.

“They love doing this,” said their mom, Gina Wolf, holding copies of suggested supplies lists for school.

Elena, a soon-to-be fifth-grader at Sunrise Elementary School, has carefully highlighted her list in attempt to streamline the purchasing process: pink for “things I have,” and yellow for “things I need.”

“We try to reuse as much as we can,” her mom said.

As the start of the school year gets closer, Spokane Valley parents are watching their wallets get lighter. In addition to growing school supplies lists, a new semester comes with fees for with extracurricular activities, school events and parking.

“This is a pretty extensive list,” said Wolf, who has noticed the number of items on the list increasing a little each year. “Things that used to be a part of the classroom we contribute now,” she said.

Wolf has had to buy whiteboard dry erasers and oil pastels in the past in addition to the basics such as pencils, notebooks, rulers and scissors. And, she may even have to replace a lot of the supplies by the middle of the school year, she said.

Rose Guegel, a former PTA president from Veradale, agrees that schools seem unable to keep up with materials.

“The costs are definitely going up each year,” she said. Like Wolf’s daughter, Guegel’s fourth-grader, Shalyn, 9, has had to buy supplies that are normally the school’s responsibilities. Teachers need Kleenex, baby wipes and reams of copy paper.

“It’s starting to get more expensive for teachers,” Guegel said, who said she knows teachers often have to spend a lot of their own money to finance classroom activities.

And the more advanced students get, the more expensive are their supplies. In addition to the classroom supplies, Shalyn, who attends Sunrise Elementary School, also needs to buy index cards and Post-it Notes to aid in doing research for papers.

Guegel’s other daughter, Shawnee, 12, is a seventh-grader at Evergreen Middle School. This year she will have to pay for a new USB memory stick for transferring computer data from school to home and a graphing calculator for her algebra class.

USB drives range from $10 to $20, and calculators can cost up to $50, or $60. These costs are on top of physical education appropriate clothing and shoes, a $15 Associated Student Body card, and a $15 yearbook.

“More and more assignments have to be typed,” said Wolf. Both her daughters have had to use USB drives at school.

Carly, also a seventh-grader at Evergreen, had to use the drive last year for transferring project files and retyping essays.

“You get a better grade if it’s typed,” she said.

High school is a whole other story. For school sports teams, clubs and band, parents have to shell out even more money.

“You got to have the yearbook, buy the dance tickets and other social stuff,” said Lori Wilson, who lives in Liberty Lake. Her daughter, Randi, 16, is a junior at Central Valley High.

Randi has to buy an Associated Student Body card or she can’t participate in extracurricular activities. The card costs $30, and Wilson will have to spend approximately $250 to $300 on Randi’s band costs, which include trips and uniforms.

Wilson adds that school dances also means new dresses and photos.

A yearbook costs between $40 to $45, and parking at school costs $10 for a yearlong pass.

The parents of Damien McGuire, 15, a sophomore at Central Valley High, may have it the easiest.

On a recent trip to Target, he only asked to buy the basics.

As for all the other extra stuff, Damien said, “I just go to school, and I get out at the end of the day.”